Several groups within Canada’s Sikh community demanded Wednesday that the federal government provide evidence to support a claim made in a recent terror assessment report that “Sikh extremism” was a current threat to the country.

The groups accused Ottawa of capitulating to the Indian government, which has repeatedly pushed a narrative that Canada is harbouring Sikh extremists, and suggested the report seemed more driven by politics than intelligence.

“Rather than defending the reputation of Canadian Sikhs and denying these baseless allegations, it appears that the Canadian government is content to capitulate to Indian demands to crack down on the Sikh activists,” said a statement from the Ontario Khalsa Darbar, one of Canada’s largest gurdwaras based in Mississauga.

The document drawing scrutiny is Public Safety Canada’s annual report on the terrorism threat to the country. A section on current threats lists “Sunni Islamist extremism” and “right-wing extremism” followed by “Sikh (Khalistani) extremism.” There had been no mention of Sikh extremism in previous years.

The 2018 report notes that while violent activities in support of an independent Sikh homeland (Khalistan) in India have fallen since the 1980s when terrorists carried out the bombing of an Air India flight, killing 331 people, “support for the extreme ideologies of such groups remains. For example, in Canada, two key Sikh organizations, Babbar Khalsa International and the International Sikh Youth Federation, have been identified as being associated with terrorism and remain listed terrorist entities under the Criminal Code.”

But several Sikh organizations, representing some of the half-million Sikhs living in Canada, said Wednesday that pro-Khalistan activism is being falsely equated with extremism and wondered why Public Safety Canada was publicizing the threat now when the report makes reference to only historical acts of violence.

“We see activism on the ground here in Canada with respect to different issues, but there’s nothing to suggest violence of any sort,” said Balpreet Singh, legal counsel for the World Sikh Organization of Canada. “It damages our reputation.”

In a joint statement, the B.C. Sikh Gurdwaras Council and the Ontario Gurdwaras Committee, a coalition representing 30 places of worship, said the Sikh community had been maligned by the government’s “generalized” accusations, which were “irresponsible and could have wide standing effects on Sikhs throughout Canada.”

We’re lumped up with a lot of Islamophobia

“We have to go back at least three decades to find anything. … What’s happened in the last year for the Sikh community to be included? What context can they give us? Why now?” Moninder Singh, the B.C. council’s spokesman, said in an interview.

“We’re a highly visible minority in this country, but we’re still subject to hate crimes. We’re lumped up with a lot of Islamophobia.”

Asked Wednesday why Sikh extremism was suddenly included in the annual threat report, a government official cited a line in the report that referred to ongoing support by some Canadians for Shia and Sikh extremist groups, “including through financing.” The official wouldn’t elaborate.

In an emailed statement, the office of Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale added: “Our government would never equate any one community with extremism. The annual Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada is prepared by officials to describe the current terrorist threat environment. The report noted that the National Terrorism Threat Level remains unchanged.”

The response is unlikely to satisfy Sikh organizations that released statements Wednesday saying they’re convinced Canada is trying to assuage the Indian government, whose prime minister, Narendra Modi, gave Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a frosty reception during a visit earlier this year.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is greeted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India on Feb. 23, 2018.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Unflattering articles in India’s media at the time portrayed members of Trudeau’s cabinet of being Khalistani “sympathizers.” One cover story in an Indian magazine was titled: “Khalistan II: Made in Canada.”

During the trip, news broke that Jaspal Atwal, who was convicted in 1986 of taking part in an attempted assassination plot against an Indian cabinet minister in B.C., had attended a reception in Mumbai hosted by Trudeau and was photographed next to Trudeau’s wife.

According to a heavily redacted federal report into that trip released earlier this month, Indian officials had brought up the issue of Sikh extremism with “great regularity” during bilateral talks throughout 2017 and 2018.

“It’s quite obvious to me they’re trying to pacify the Indian government,” said Rattan Mall, editor of the Indo-Canadian Voice, a newspaper covering B.C.’s South Asian community.

Sikhs take part in a festival parade in Edmonton.David Bloom/Postmedia/File

It is true, Mall said, that there are some groups in Canada that are very “anti-Indian” and use “abusive” language “and there’s always a possibility they will do something stupid and the Canadian government has the right to look at them, keep tabs on them.”

At the same time, support for the Khalistan movement ebbs and flows and there are many in the Sikh community who do not support it at all, he said.

“The main fear in the community is stereotyping. I’m not a Sikh; I know how Sikhs feel about it,” he said.

Despite greater awareness about the Sikh community, there are still people who “see someone with a turban and think he’s a terrorist.”

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has released its last budget before the fall federal election

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